1.0 Introduction
_Environmental Graphic Design will explore the branch of design that
embraces many design disciplines simultaneously: graphic, architectural,
interior, landscape, typographic, and industrial design to name just a few.
Environmental Graphic Design is design concerned with the visual aspects of wayfinding, communicating identity and information, encouraging social and cultural interaction and sensitivity, and above all intelligently shaping and
informing PLACE.
_Common examples of work by EGD practitioners include wayfinding systems, architectural graphics, signage, exhibition design, identity graphics, civic design, pictogram design, retail and store design, mapping and themed environments.
1.1 Summary of Work
_The work of a designer, regardless of discipline, is cited in a specific culture and context, and is a response to that culture and context, which inform the process of making the design. Process is just as important as outcome, especially in design of the environmental (human) scale.
_In this couse, we will view process as “evidence.” For each project, proof of a solid process will in fact inform your grade. Since every designer works with their own methods, no format will be regulated for your process work. There will be requirements on the final work that is turned in for each assignment, but process work may be turned in as fits the project and the designer.
_This course will include brief lectures, group discussions and projects, visual presentations, guest speakers, field trips, and assigned readings. Assignments will include studio design charettes, studio design projects, frequent critiques, design periodical readings, responses to articles in design periodicals, the creation of small portfolios of particular projects, and one to two major class presentations of one’s work. These projects are intended to strengthen your visual, oral, and verbal communication skills and to broaden your understanding of the diversity of the professional field of Environmental Graphic Design.
_The Visiting Artist/Scholar series, as well as the Jack Davis Lecture, and the Broad Street and Main Gallery Exhibitions are mandatory elements of this class. Dates, times, and locations of these exhibitions and lectures have been integrated into this syllabus. A one-page response is due for each. The response may be visual or it may be verbal (text-based). Creativity and intelligence earn an A.
1.2 Course Concepts and Texts
_Two over-arching concepts will inform the projects and dialogues in this course.
1 STRANGELY FAMILIAR: DESIGN AND EVERYDAY LIFE
“What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms, to question that which seems to have ceased forever to astonish us. We live, true, we breath, true. We walk, we open doors, we go down staircases, we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bed in order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why?” - Georges Perec, 1973.
2 BEAUTIFUL EVIDENCE
“Evidence that bears on questions of any complexity typically involves multiple forms of discourse. Evidence is evidence, whether words, numbers, images, diagrams, still or moving.” - Edward Tufte, 2006.
1.3 Course Objectives
_It is a goal of this course to develop an understanding that communication is an active process between people and not just a statement of the artist’s self-
expression or the passive appreciation of it. It will be shown that in order for us to act as designers, we must interpret the significance of the information before us and therefore participate in a communication process.
_To explore and to understand the use of form, space, symbol, and typographic information as design elements and to understand that the goal of an EGD
professional is to sythesize these components into a cohesive experience for the visitor/viewer.
_To engage, to understand, and to create architectural drawings of spaces and projects, so that each student is prepared to collaborate with architects, builders, and other designers to realize projects at an environmental/architectural scale.
_To learn to establish visual, spatial and experiential continuity, and logical design hierarchies.
_To develop an awareness of the principles of Environmental Graphic Design: that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that establishing “place” is of the essence in the field of EGD.
_To understand that the word “place” has several meanings in today’s world, and to know that creating a sense of place requires the successful interaction of
numerous design elements, including architecture, graphic design elements,
interior design elements, lighting and landscaping elements. The successful ‘place’ or ‘environment’ is one that attracts people on a conscious and unconscious level.
_To explore and to understand the Macintosh computer as a powerful design tool, but to first develop ideas, strategies, and processes by hand through sketches and models.
_To develop the ability to articulate the identity of an environment, from symbol to packaging to signage and related environmental ‘interfaces.’
4.0 PROJECTS
WEEKS 0-1 [AUG 16 - AUG 24]
Project One: Adventure of a Lifetime/Timeline
WEEKS 2-3 [AUG 27 - SEPT 7]
Project Two: Site:Sight
Out of the showcase, removed from the pedestal, off the wall and away from the University. You will transform an aspect of downtown Athens, Georgia for this project, which challenges conventions of design making and design viewing.
a_Step One is your personal intervention
b_Step Two is a group mapping exercise
WEEKS 4-5 [SEPT 10 - SEPT 17]
Project Three: Exhibition Identity
You must choose the name, research the visual and textual information for, and design the logo (or logotype) for an exhibition drawn at random, making the exhibition's identity harmonize (or not) with the existing museum logo and identity also drawn at random.
WEEKS 6-9 [SEPT 19 - OCT 15]
Project Four: Free-standing Exhibition Design
In the gallery, on the campus of The University of Georgia. You will design a free-standing exhibition that is 'traveling' to Broad Street Gallery at The University of Georgia. Like the previous project, this one is cited in downtown Athens. Use the methods from the last project in a new context to communicate and challenge conventions of design making and design viewing.
a_Step One is to consider the existing space of Broad Street Gallery through architectural drawings and images.
b_Step Two is to design the exhibition modules.
c_Step Three is to blow one of these modules up to full (human) size.
MIDTERM: OCTOBER 15 - MAJOR CRITIQUE OF PROJECT FOUR
WEEKS 9-10 [OCT 17 - OCT 24]
Project Five: Branding/Corporate Symbol Design
Some element of your exhibition inspired a business owner. Since your exhibition design was so convincing, you are now asked to design the corporate identity for this person's business.
WEEKS 11-13 [OCT 29 - NOV 16]
Project Six: Store Interior
Project Five extended into an interior environment, encompassing architectural design, interior design, wayfinding and product placement as well as interactive graphics.
WEEKS 14 - 16 [NOV 19 - DEC 5]
Project Seven: Package Design
Project Five + Project Six distilled into package design, focusing on typography, materials, and elements of industrial design.
FINAL EXAM: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14TH, 8 - 11 AM.
5.0 DAY BY DAY UNTIL MIDTERM
FRI AUG 17
Introduce ARGD 4020.
Introduce project one adventure of a lifetime/timeline
project 1 handout and reading distributed.
MON AUG 20
Hour 1_discuss project one, 5 people
Read for today: Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte, "Introduction" and "Escaping Flatland."
Due_provide an image, a word, and numbers for timeline
WEDS AUG 22
Work day for project one - 10 sketches due today.
FRI AUG 24
Project one due today: pin/up at 10:10
Introduce project two, distribute maps of downtown Athens
MON AUG 27
Hour 1_discuss project two, site:sight
Read for today: Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte, (1) Images and Quantities, and (2) Visual and Statistical Thinking and
(3) Rebecca Solnit’s introduction to Wanderlust (all 3 are handouts)
Hour 2_work day for project two
WEDS AUG 29
Due_Written proposal + sketch for project two (1 page each)
FRI AUG 31
Visit downtown, 5 min. Presentation by designer at each site
MON SEPT 3
No class, Labor Day holiday
WEDS SEPT 5
Hour 1_discuss project two
Read for today: Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte, "Micro/Macro Readings" (handout)
Hour 2_work day for Project Two, Site:Sight
FRI SEPT 7
Project two, Site:Sight maps due today: pin/up at 10:10
Introduce Project Three, select exhibits/museums from hat
MON SEPT 10
Hour 1_discuss project three
Read for today: Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte, "Layering and Separation" (handout), and Beautiful Evidence, "Mapped Pictures"
Hour 2_work day for project three, exhibition i.D.
WEDS SEPT 12
Work day for project three, exhibition identity
Due_written proposal + 10 sketches for project three, exhibition i.D.
FRI SEPT 14
Hour 1_discuss project three, exhibition identity
Read for today: Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life by Andrew Blauvelt, essay by the same title (handout)
Hour 2_work day for project three, exhibition identity
(Field Trip to ATL?)
MON SEPT 17
Project three, exhibition identity Due today: pin/up at 10:10
WEDS SEPT 19
Hour 1_introduce project four, freestanding exhibition design
Hour 2_visit the broad street gallery
Read for today: Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life by Aaron Betsky, The Strangeness of the Familiar in Design (handout)
FRI SEPT 21
Hour 1 and hour 2_design charette - build 10 1/8”=1’-0” models of your proposed exhibition in class, using the Broad Street Gallery plan as a template. Incorporate one non-traditional material with conceptual tie to your project.
MON SEPT 24
Hour 1_discuss project four, exhibition design charette examples
Read for today: Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte, "Narratives of Space and Time" (handout) and Beautiful Evidence, "Sparklines"
Hour 2_work day for project four
Due today_ one written proposal, one page
WEDS SEPT 26
Hour 1_pause models for now. Discuss presentation graphics vs.
Architectural drawing conventions
Hour 2_work day for project four
FRI SEPT 28
Hour 1 and hour 2_work day for project four
due today_evidence of progress toward final scale model
MON OCT 1
Hour 1 and hour 2_work day for project four
Read for today_Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte, "Links and Causal Arrows"
Due today_evidence of progress toward presentation graphics + architectural drawings of freestanding exhibition
WEDS OCT 3
Hour 1_demo on full-size/human scale graphics
Hour 2_work day for project four
FRI OCT 5
Design critique on drawings and pres. Graphics, begin at 10:10
Due today_architectural drawings and presentation graphics
MON OCT 8
Design critique on scale model, begin at 10:10
Read for today_Beautiful Evidence, by Edward Tufte, "Words, Numbers, Images"
Due today_final scale model
WEDS OCT 10
Hour 1 and hour 2_work day for project four
Due today_catch up on all three components due for final critique - evidence toward completion
FRI OCT 12
Design critique on full size module, begin at 10:10
Due today_one full size module/component of freestanding
exhibition
MON OCT 15
Major mid-term critique at which is due:
1. Architectural drawings and presentation graphics of project four, freestanding exhibition design
2. 1/4” = 1’-0” Scale (or) 1/8” = 1’-0” scale model of freestanding
exhibition design (depending on scope/ambition of project)
3. One full size module/component of freestanding exhibition
design demonstrating material, legibility, and color/form
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